When I Return

I glance out the window, thinking how only this morning I was in the city that never sleeps, sipping coffee with Taylor and reading CelebWatch magazines. How I could walk a block faster than driving down it. But sitting on my window bench, watching the calm ocean, it's a world away.
I hop down and look around my room. Besides my suitcase, nothing has changed. The walls are still sky blue. My bed still has its pastel pink comforter, with the vintage throw pillows from Grams. Everything is just as it was, almost as if I never left. Almost as if I slept here every night for the past two months. Almost as if I still played my guitar while making up songs on the window seat. Almost as if Emma was still my best friend. Almost as if I could think about Carter without feeling that a brick had just been placed on my stomach. Almost as if I had never majorly screwed things up. Almost, but not quite.

After creating the disaster that had cost Claire some of the most important people in her life, she ran to New York, seeking comfort in the city and her sister. But summer is over and it's time to face the reality of an impossibly small town- where you can easily run into your teacher at the bra boutique-and what she had done. In this heart-wrenching story about friendships and first loves, Claire must find her way back on her feet after running from her fears.